Snappy Ubuntu Arrives for Google Cloud, Optimizes Docker Use

As we've reported before, more than half of OpenStack deployments are being built on Ubuntu, according to the OpenStack Foundation, which backs the claim up with survey results. Ubuntu's popularity with the cloud crowd is not lost on Canonical, which recently launched a new “snappy” version of Ubuntu Core. This minimalist take on Ubuntu can especially serve Docker deployments and platform-as-a-service environments.

Now, in a smart move, Google has adopted the Snappy core for use with Google Cloud. It's a streamlined version of the Canonical Ubuntu Linux distribution tuned to run Docker and other containers along with Google Cloud. It provides the essential components for running Linux task in the cloud, but removes some of the bulk of the full version of Ubuntu.